Delhi Police plan electronic surveillance across city

By Mayank Aggarwal New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) In the wake of the recent terror attacks in various Indian cities, Delhi Police are planning centralised and round-the-clock electronic surveillance in busy marketplaces, important installations and other places vulnerable to terrorist strikes. At present, the police have installed CCTV cameras only at the busy markets of Sadar Bazar, Ajmal Khan Road, Karol Bagh, Pahar Ganj, Chandni Chowk and Khan Market.

“However, the problem with these is that they are standalone systems with monitoring facilities only in the offices of the area’s Station House Officer, the Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner,” a senior officer said.

The new project, the brainchild of Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal, “aims at setting up of a central command and control centre for all the CCTV cameras across the city,” Rajan Bhagat, the spokesman of Delhi Police, told IANS.

The police floated a global tender for this July 18 and the project would take a few months for completion once a company to execute the project is selected. The bids have to be submitted by Sep 4.

A briefing would be conducted Thursday in the office of Joint Commissioner of Police (Training) P.N. Aggarwal to brief all prospective vendors who have expressed an interest in the project.

“We are looking at a combination of PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) and fixed cameras with day and night vision so that we don’t face any technology handicaps,” a senior Delhi Police officer said.

The project would include integration and upgrading of existing CCTV installations.

The police also have on hand other projects like the city video surveillance system for monitoring traffic movements and violations committed at various traffic intersections in the capital.

The authorities are looking at integrating all existing systems for better coordination and effective response management.

“The bidders also have to suggest a suitable system of interface between the proposed CCTV system and the existing city video surveillance system and intelligent traffic management system,” another senior Delhi Police officer said.

“Live monitoring of markets and vulnerable places for crime prevention and maintaining overall security to prevent terrorist attacks is the main objective of this project,” he added.

It would help in keeping a check on the alertness of police personnel on duty and their locations, the officer pointed out.

“This system would help in the immediate detection of an incident and alerting others about it. The movement of vehicles and the public would also be recorded for security purposes.

“We want the latest system for the force which can work well 24X7 in Indian conditions.”